Total WA Government recurrent real expenditure on homelessness services has consistently increased over the last ten years in real terms (2023-24 dollars) from $87.6 million in 2014-15 to $121.0 million in 2023-24. Over this same time period, real expenditure per person has increased from $34.63 to $41.32 (Figure 32).
Figure 32
As compared with recurrent spending on homelessness services, total recurrent real expenditure on social housing decreased from $946.1 million in 2016-17 to $637.2 million in 2021-22 before increasing significantly in 2023-24 to $961.5 million. Correspondingly, real expenditure per person decreased from $368.21 to $230.62 before rising sharply to $328.31 in 2023-24 (Figure 33).
Figure 33
Figure 34 presents trends in WA Government real capital expenditure on social housing. Real capital expenditure on social housing fell through 2017-2018 to 2020-21 before rising sharply in 2021-22 and falling slightly in 2023 -2024. The fall in real capital expenditure on social housing resulted in a fall in social housing stock. The significant increases in recent years will act to arrest the decline in social housing stock. Recent budget decisions will result in further injections of real capital expenditure and assist in meeting the housing affordability and availability in Western Australia.
Figure 34
Figure 35 provides estimates of real expenditure by the Western Australian Government on both social housing and homelessness services between 2014-15 and 2023-24.
Figure 35
Index series
An index series was created to determine real expenditure on social housing (Figure 36) and homeless services (Figure 37) between States and Territories. The baseline used for this index was 2014-15 (100%), with an increase of the index (i.e. greater than 100%) representing a growth in expenditure and a decrease of the index (i.e. less than 100%) representing a drop in expenditure.
Compared to 2014-15, real expenditure on social housing has increased by 18.5% for Western Australia compared to a 52.4% increase nationally. However, the increase in social housing has only occurred in the last two years. As can be seen in Figure 37, between 2017-18 and 2021-22, social housing expenditure in WA fell relative to other jurisdictions and was only 72.6 – 91.8% of that in 2014-15.
Compared to 2014-15, real expenditure on homelessness services has increased by 38.2% for Western Australia in 2023-24 compared to a 69.8% increase nationally.
Figure 36
Figure 37
Note
Real expenditure figures reported in 2023-24 dollars were retrieved from the 2025 Report on Government Services. In order to extend the time series back to 2014-15, nominal figures for 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19 were retrieved from the respective reports for those years (i.e., 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020) and converted to 2023-24 dollars using the 2025 General Government Final Consumption Expenditure (GGFCE) chain price deflator. In cases where historical financial data had been revised in subsequent years, real figures were converted to nominal figures based on the GGFCE chain price deflator for the respective year and converted to 2023-24 dollars using the 2025 GGFCE chain price deflator. Expenditure per person in the population was re-estimated based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) December quarterly population estimates for the respective years (June 2024 release). Accordingly, values presented in the figures may differ slightly from those reported in the Reports on Government Services due to the adjustments described above and revisions made by the ABS to population estimates since the Reports on Government Services were released.
For more information see the WA Government Housing and Homelessness Funding Snapshot
